Here we share some of the most important news for the dialogue and deliberation community that crosses our desks. For even more news and updates, check out NCDD’s Facebook page at www.facebook.com/ncddpage, where over 50 of our members’ blogs are followed.

The Public Conversations Project — a founding member of NCDD — has produced a must-see 6-minute video overviewing their work over the past 20 years, with a particular emphasis on their groundbreaking pro-life / pro-choice dialogue in Boston. Also be sure to check out NCDD’s video playlists on YouTube, where we’ve been keeping track of some of the very best videos out there on dialogue, deliberation, graphic recording, and online engagement — like this one. (continue)

I’m getting ready to “celebrate” my 40th birthday tomorrow. We launched the National Coalition for Dialogue & Deliberation when I was 30, so this is a big birthday year for both me and NCDD. Now that NCDD is ten years old, and we’re about to hold our 5th national conference this fall, Andy and I thought we’d invite all of you to remember the past ten years with us. Andy put together a wonderful page on the “WEB history of NCDD,” which shows the various iterations […] (continue)

The National Coalition for Dialogue & Deliberation (NCDD) and six other national organizations have joined forces to build stronger communities. Under the leadership of the Orton Family Foundation, the new CommunityMatters partnership aims to equip cities, towns and all community members to strengthen their places and inspire change. This group champions the notion that people have the power to solve their community’s problems and shape its future, and NCDD is proud to be involved! NCDD and its six partners share the common goal of building strong communities […] (continue)

It’s official… Carolyn Lukensmeyer — who we all know as founder and president of AmericaSpeaks — is moving on to a new role. She’ll be serving as Executive Director of the University of Arizona-based National Institute for Civil Discourse. Carolyn gave me a call yesterday with a heads-up about today’s big announcement, and said when I asked her why she’s making the move: “The National Institute for Civil Discourse is an extraordinary opportunity to expand the audiences to which I can bring the importance of citizens […] (continue)

Mike McGrath from the National Civic League posted this on the NCDD LinkedIn group yesterday, and Matt Leighninger of the Deliberative Democracy Consortium posted this to the NCDD Discussion listserv today… (Also be sure to check out our resource on this topic at www.ncdd.org/rc/item/4341 (including a great compilation of legal frameworks shared on an NCDD listserv discussion in fall 2010!) A set of national associations, including the National League of Cities, American Bar Association, and Int’l City/County Management Association, is working to draft model policies, resolutions, and […] (continue)

For those of you who have held public engagement programs in California, here’s an opportunity to get your work in front of funders, public administrators, fellow civic innovators, and others… NCDD is collaborating with the New America Foundation’s newly-launched California Civic Innovation Project (CCIP) to create a map of public engagement projects that have happened, are happening, or are being planned in California. Please take a few minutes to complete the simple survey at http://tinyurl.com/7ocbc48 and let us know about your projects and your organization. CCIP and NCDD […] (continue)

Hello all, and welcome to the first NCDD book club. My name is Martín Carcasson, and I’m a communication studies professor at Colorado State University and the director of the CSU Center for Public Deliberation (CPD), which I founded in 2006 to serve as an impartial resource to the northern Colorado community and provide capacity for a wide variety of deliberative events. I’ve been asked to start us off in the discussion of the new book Democratizing Deliberation by summarizing the Foreword by Kettering President David […] (continue)

I had a great call yesterday with social psychologist Jonathan Haidt — author of a fascinating book that’s been getting a lot of buzz in our field and elsewhere called The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion (in the Resource Center here, or at Amazon here). I was a little nervous about the call once I watched his Bill Moyers interview — though so excited about what he would think about NCDD and our community of practice. I’m happy to say […] (continue)

Take a moment to enjoy this wonderful 8-minute video created by the West Virginia Center for Civic Life (an NCDD organizational member, directed by the amazing Betty Knighton). They did a beautiful job capturing the importance and promise of dialogue and deliberation. You may want to use this video to promote your own public engagement work. You can access the video at YouTube at www.youtube.com/watch?v=PFckX5rUi9I. The West Virginia Center for Civic Life is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that helps engage citizens in community discussions of important […] (continue)

Organizational Diagosis: Building Commitment For Intentional Change is an advanced consulting skills workshop led by Sam Kaner, PhD. for seasoned professional consultants and facilitators who want to build collaborative partnerships with their clients, to address tough organizational challenges and bring about real, long-term system change. It will be held July 23-27, 2012 at the Community At Work offices in San Francisco. The workshop combines frequent practice sessions with fascinating and instructive case studies. Participants receive a 150-page workbook that is loaded with professional models, methods and tools and NCDD members are eligible for […] (continue)